Over a dozen eminent citizens of the country have expressed their concern over the recent events that have revealed deep rooted religious sectarianism and a misogynistic patriarchy in Bangladesh.
A total of 17 dignitaries, including Abdul Gaffar Chowdhury, Hasan Azizul Haque, Syed Hasan Imam, Anupam Sen, Ramendu Majumdar, Selina Hossain and Abed Khan, issued the statement under the banner of Sammilita Sangskritik Jote (SSJ) issued on Wednesday.
Mentioning the recent attacks on the houses of the religious minority in Shalla of Sunamganj and the temples and idols vandalized in Rupsha upazila of Khulna, they said incidents like these were very distressing.
They said what was more tragic was that the perpetrators of these criminal activities were not brought to justice, but rather a youth from the minority community who had been critical of the fundamentalist groups had now been imprisoned without trial.
The statement also noted that some recent incidents centering on an actor from the film industry had also made citizens deeply worried, anxious and angry.
They demanded that people who were responsible for the cultural decline of women be unmasked and the lessons learned from this incident be used to accelerate a cultural and social movement.
